We are dedicated to providing our clients with personal, timely and cost-effective legal representation. We are innovators and leaders in the areas of mental healthcare and healthcare law. Overall our practice is about equally divided between transactional work and litigation.

The skills, knowledge and experience of attorneys are critical in the dynamic area of healthcare law. Bruce was also trained and formerly practiced as a psychologist-psychoanalyst. Christine Dolan, counsel to the firm, was trained as a nurse.

Mental healthcare law involves the representation of professionals, practices, agencies, facilities, institutes and educational institutions that provide mental health services. Essential to the practice of mental healthcare law are knowledge and experience in healthcare law, that body of law applicable to all health care and health professions, including corporate and non-profit law, employment law, malpractice law, real estate law, education law, administrative law, and insurance law. We serve as outside “general counsel” to several small to medium-sized mental health practices, agencies and institutes.

A particular area of focus is our defense of healthcare practitioners in professional disciplinary proceedings. These proceedings may be before licensing boards, ethics or peer review committees, regulatory agencies or insurers. Bruce previously served as Ethics Counsel to a State professional association in a prosecutorial role in such disciplinary matters. He has defended hundreds of mental health practitioners in disciplinary proceedings since then.

With his specific expertise and experience in mental healthcare law, Bruce has worked with clients throughout New York State often exclusively using electronic and telephonic means of communication; we have never met in person with many of our clients.

Bruce has also served as a mediator for the federal courts and for private business clients in disputes where the parties are interested in saving on the time and cost, including emotional cost, of litigation, or in preserving a working relationship.

As general practice civil attorneys, we also represent our clientele in certain of their general civil matters, such as wills, and real estate and business transactions.

In certain circumstances, we represent consumers of mental health services and their families. This representation may include guardianship, appropriate healthcare and education for the mentally ill, and patients' rights generally.

Bruce has been approved by the New York State Education Department as an authorized provider of continuing education for LMSW's and LCSW's in New York State (Bruce Hillowe SW CPE #0047)

Bruce has been awarded Martindale-Hubbell's® highest and most coveted rating of "AV," indicating that his legal ability has been rated as "Very High to Preeminent" and his general ethics as "High." Martindale- Hubbell® is the nation's foremost attorney rating service, and bases its objective ratings on carefully conducted investigations and peer review by practicing attorneys and judges. Bruce is also listed in Martindale-Hubbell's "Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers®"*.

Bruce has been selected for inclusion in the New York Superlawyers - Metro Edition under the practice area of Healthcare Law. Only 5% of lawyers in the New York metro area are named to the list. The selection is based on peer nominations, blue ribbon panel review and independent research by Thomson Reuters®. Recipients are featured in a special supplement to The New York Times Magazine. Bruce has been named and recognized among "Long Island's Top Legal Eagles" (Health Law) by Long Island Pulse Magazine. Bruce has also received a rating of "Excellent" by AVVO.com. An Avvo rating is calculated using a mathematical model that considers a variety of elements including a lawyer’s years of experience, board certification, education, disciplinary history, professional achievements, and industry recognition. The Avvo rating and peer rating systems were developed with input from hundreds of lawyers, consumers and industry advisors. Bruce has been selected by Corporate LiveWire as a Global Award Winner in Health Care Law; this award honors firms that consistently show best practice and innovation based on referrals from clients, peer reviews, speaking engagements and articles written.

Please go the the "Contact" section of our website (above left) for directions to our office, and go to "Our Attorneys" for further biographical information about Bruce and our professional staff.

* "CV, BV and AV are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties, Inc. used in accordance with the Martindate-Hubbell certfication procedure standards and policies. Martindate-Hubbell is the facilitator of a peer review process that rates lawyers. Ratings reflect the confidential opinions of members of the Bar and the Judiciary. Martindate-Hubbell ratings fall into two categories - legal ability and general ethical standards. Legal Ability Ratings are: C - Good to High, B - High to Very High, A - Very High to Preeminent. There is one general ethical standard rating - V or very high. An attorney will not receive a Legal Ability Rating unless he or she has been endorsed for a "V." Only when both ratings are confirmed will an attorney receive a rating." "The Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers" lists only the most distinguished law practices, those that have acheived the prestigious "AV" rating in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. For further information see www.martindale.com.